The Weekly Daf #123
Menachos 44-50
Week of 30 Sivan-6 Tamuz 5756 / 17-23 June 1996
By Rabbi Mendel Weinbach, Dean, Ohr Somayach Institutions
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Examination and Determination
The animal offered as the daily korban tamid had to be checked for four
days before its offering in order to determine that it was free of any
disqualifying blemishes. This rule is derived by the Sage Ben Bag Bag from
the parallel which the Torah indicates between this sacrifice and the
korban pesach which was set aside on the tenth of Nissan and offered only
on the fourteenth.
This four-day requirement of examination for blemishes does not apply to
the additional sacrifices - korban mussaf offered on Shabbos and holidays.
It does apply, however, not only to the korban pesach in Egypt where it was
first commanded, but also to every korban pesach in the generations to
come.
The mishnah in Mesechta Pesachim (96a), however, declares that only the
korban pesach in Egypt had to be set aside on the tenth and not that of
future generations. How do we reconcile this with the aforementioned rule
that every korban pesach requires four days of examination?
Rashi explains that in regard to the korban pesach in Egypt the animal
which would be used for the sacrifice had to actually be designated on the
tenth. In future generations this designation was not required. One could
set aside a few animals which he would examine for four days and save the
actual determination of which to offer for the fourteenth.
Menachos 49b
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Sense in Incense
Ketores, the incense offered each morning and evening on the golden inner
altar of the Beis Hamikdash, could only be offered by the community. No
individual could donate incense to the Sanctuary to offer in his behalf.
In similar fashion the community could not offer incense on the outer altar
reserved for sacrifices.
The only exception to both rules was the incense brought by the heads of
each of the tribes at the time of the inauguration of the Mishkan, as we
recently read in Parshas Naso. This was a heavenly dictated exception
limited to the special circumstances of the occasion and the donors.
A problem, however, arises. In Mesechta M'eilah (9b) one of the Sages
states that one who involuntarily eats from the flesh of a kodshei kodshim
sacrifice before its blood has been applied to the altar must atone for his
sin by using the money he is required to repay the Sanctuary (the monetary
value of what he consumed, plus a chomesh, in addition to a korban asham
sacrifice) to purchase incense which will be completely consumed on the
altar. This would seem to indicate that an individual can offer incense,
not only the community.
Tosefos explains that the rule restricting incense offerings to the
community remains intact, for the individual sinner purchasing the incense
must turn it over to the ownership of the communal Sanctuary before it can
be offered. Allowing him to do so is merely a way of helping him in
achieving atonement for his sin by playing an auxiliary role in placing
something on the altar which will be consumed in its entirety for the sake
of Hashem.
Menachos 50a
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